Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Pack Size

Hopefully going west for the first time to hunt next fall (2019) and I plan on purchasing a new pack. I’d like to get several miles from the road for 5-7 days and am trying to decide how big I need to go. I’m used to carrying around my issues ILBE pack which I believe is around 5500 cubic inches. I believe that would be big enough but was wondering if it’s almost too big? I’d also like to have something that can easily be converted to carry game bags. Open to pack suggestions for something that’s not crazy expensive.

Extra cubic inches are lightweight insurance. Go big...

I like Kifaru a lot and there's good deals to be had on lightly used ones on a couple different forums.

When you can find a sale...actually worth full price...

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Have carried rifles in the pack or strapped to the sides.

I'm relatively new to backpack hunting but have found 5000+ to not be too small. I use 52-5500 cubic inch packs for 3-5 day hunts. I'm afraid to go bigger mainly because with all my packs, day and backpacks if I have room I keep adding stuff.

I'd suggest making a list of all your gear and lay it out on the floor. Buy a postal scale and weigh everything separately. Then throw it all together and see how much it weighs. Then start replacing items with lighter items and/or removing things from the pile. I find it funny that usually guys drag all kinds of stuff into camp and after the first day have all their stuff spread out on the ground and leaving a lot of it in the tent for future days. 😎

I'd suggest buying a good pack. A poor fitting pack will wear you out and likely be very uncomfortable. I personally like Kifaru and Mystery Ranch.

Good luck and have fun!

You can make a big pack small using the integral compression straps but you cannot make a small pack big. The few extra ounces of weight between a bigger vs smaller pack is a small price to pay for the added versatility.

+1. IMO 7000 cubic inches is a good place to be.

I personally need about 50L of space for gear and optics on a 3-4 day backpack hunt. If the meat has to go in too (i.e. no meat shelf), I need another 35-40L. I like a trim pack but it's not worth having junk dangling off like a newbie in Yellowstone; I'd err large to start with.

Good comments on bigger is better.
Just make sure you don’t fill the extra space on the trip in.

Bigger is better so long as you are disciplined not to toss it in. In fact you should get two packs. A 3500-4K one to load your gear in like you are going on a hunt....then toss it into your big pack and don't add anymore gear in the transfer.

yup, don't skimp on volume for a 7 day trip

I think that 4,000 cu. in. is a practical minimum. I have a couple of packs that size but I don't use them much any longer. I use an Osprey Aether 85, which is about 5,500 cu. in. or a Kuiu Ultra 6000. I can get by with a smaller pack but it's tough to get everything in and pack it properly.

KC

I haven't tried this technique but it sounds like a good idea.

Remember that everything weighs something and if you take care of the ounces, the pounds will take care of themselves.

I’ve become pretty good at packing light due to the Marines, but transporting food in still baffles me a little. I’ve never done this before, but it seems like a weeks worth of mountain house, MREs, whatever would take up a lot of space and weight. Even if you’re just packing for one meal a day and snacking on protein bars or jerky I think 7 packages of food plus the the snacks would be a killer to have to shove in a pack for a long hike in.

It's not as bad as you'd think, as long as all your gear especially the "big 3" (tent, bag, pad) are light.

Food does take a lot of space, and weighs more than any other single thing in my pack.

I just made up some bags of food (5-day, 3-day & 2-day bags) that I'm going to use this summer. I use mostly freeze-dried and dehydrated food and it weighs about a pound a day.

Cameron Hanes has a great book on hunting the back country, and has some great lists and tips etc,,,, look it up and get a copy.... Semper Fi

you’re doing pretty good if you have it down to a pound a day, I always figure about 1.5 lbs day and it seems to come out pretty close. I’m eating/snacking almost all day long, habit I picked up from long trail races. Three squares just doesn’t work for me in the mountains.

"Too Big" packs can lead to sloppy packing and bringing unnecessary stuff. "Too Small" packs are, well, too small! Think a woman's purse... if you have the space you will likely use it.

For multiday hunts I like something in the 80-90 liter range, though there's really nothing wrong with a 100 liter pack too, if you're disciplined not to fill it unnecessarily.

Be aware, Co's measure packs differently so not all Co's statistics are equal. The accepted industry standard used to be with ping pong balls, but most makers don't follow that practice any longer, though it is probably the best, and maybe only way, to keep consistency brand to brand for honest comparison. I've used packs rated as 60 liters that had more usable volume than ones rated at 75 liters.

IMO this depends 100% on the packer's level of experience, and whether they have their gear squared away. If you've winnowed down your gear, over-packing shouldn't be a problem.